Display units, such as a computer monitor or television, are commonly used to display an image. A display unit displays the image on a screen having rows and columns of pixels. After receiving signals indicating information concerning an image, a logic unit of the display unit excites the pixels according to the image information to recreate the image. The process of exciting the pixels is also referred to as “driving” the pixels.
Most conventional display units use analog signals to drive the pixels. For example, a particular color shade may be displayed using a signal having a particular level of voltage to drive a pixel. The voltage level used is indicative of the color or shade of gray intended to be represented. However, the range of voltage levels for an analog signal is narrow. Thus, analog signals may not be suitable for displaying numerous color shades because the voltage difference between the analog signals may become too small to accurately display an image.
To generate a more realistic image, digital signals may be used to drive pixels. During a given time frame, a pixel is excited by one or more pulses, with the fraction of the time frame in which the pixel is excited being indicative of the color or shade of gray to be displayed. However, pixels of some display units may not be digitally driven because some binary numbers may initiate pulses that are spaced apart, causing image errors. For example, pixels of a liquid crystal display unit may be difficult to drive with digital signals because the time period required by liquid crystal to assume a relaxed state after an excitation is longer than the time periods that separate the pulses. Thus, if the liquid crystal is excited by a pulse before completely relaxing from an excitation by a previous pulse associated, the actual brightness of the pixel may be brighter than the actual color shade intended to be represented.